{"id":3069,"date":"2012-05-03T11:19:56","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T16:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/?p=3069"},"modified":"2012-05-03T12:11:44","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T17:11:44","slug":"were-all-better-off-when-were-all-better-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2012\/05\/03\/were-all-better-off-when-were-all-better-off\/","title":{"rendered":"We&#8217;re all better off when we&#8217;re all better off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Sen. Phil Leventis has introduced the \u201cTRAC Recommendation Act\u201d (S 1454) that eliminates or reduces many sales tax exemptions, a move supported by the SC Progressive Network, which has been working to promote fair taxation and sustainable budgets. \u201cOur state\u2019s not broke,\u201d Leventis said at a May 1 press conference, \u201cbut we are teetering on the verge of moral bankruptcy in our failure to meet the needs of our citizens.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nUnlike the recommendation by the Republican-sponsored Tax Realignment Commission (TRAC) that called for using new revenue to further lower taxes, Leventis\u2019 bill requires new revenue to be used to fund statutory obligations for education and local governments. The legislation would increase the state\u2019s budget by nearly $1 billion next year.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8LGuENigDuI\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Leventis noted that during his 32 years as a state senator, \u201cI have been guided by the principle that government should invest in meeting the needs and aspirations of its citizens. This principle has been undermined by an ideology claiming that government is the cause of our problems, and accordingly, must be starved. A government unwilling to invest tax dollars in itself and its citizens is the real source of our problems. When businesses strive to be competitive, they do so by investing in their future. That is what we have to do today in South Carolina to insure a more prosperous future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>We\u2019re not broke; narrow political ideology has trumped statesmanship. The lack of political will to fairly reform our tax codes to meet our basic civic contracts for education and infrastructure leads our citizens to believe that \u201cminimally adequate\u201d is the best we can hope for.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Leventis was joined by representatives from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scpronet.com\">SC Progressive Network<\/a>, a coalition of organizations that represents the interests of a majority of the state\u2019s families who make less than $42,000 a year.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DzNkN_RFQj4\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t expect the legislature to pass the bill this year, but it\u2019s critical for the public to understand that a lot of money is being left on the table,\u201d said Network director Brett Bursey. \u201cIt should be up to the taxpayers to decide if their money is best spent on education or on further reducing taxes to compete with Mexico.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>Of all the industrialized nations, only Chile and Mexico have a lower individual tax burden than the United States, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oecd.org\/document\/60\/0,3343,en_2649_34533_1942460_1_1_1_1,00&#038;&#038;en-USS_01DBC.html#A_RevenueStatistics\">Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development<\/a>. Among the 50 states, South Carolina is ranked <a href=\"http:\/\/www.taxfoundation.org\/files\/sl_burdens_south-carolina-20110223.pdf\">43rd in the nation<\/a> in taxes as a percentage of income, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.taxfoundation.org\/taxdata\/show\/289.html\">dead last in per-capita state taxes<\/a> (National Tax Foundation).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re all better off, when we\u2019re all better off,\u201d said Network Co-chair Virginia Sanders, citing a recent International <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imf.org\/external\/pubs\/ft\/fandd\/2011\/09\/Berg.htm\">Monetary Fund report<\/a> on the correlation between income inequality and general prosperity.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kf8w6k_jATc\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Our state\u2019s business-friendly climate is reflected in the Forbes ranking that puts South Carolina 5th in its \u201cbusiness friendly regulatory environment\u201d but 44th in quality of life. Forbes ranks the quality of our labor supply at 22nd, far behind North Carolina (third) and Georgia (fourth). \u201cThe message this sends is that South Carolina, with its lax regulations and unskilled labor force, is a cheap place to do business \u2014 but you might not want to live here,\u201d Bursey said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The House budget cuts mandatory funding for education by $665 million and local government funds by $71 million. These spending levels are set by law, but EFA and local government funding obligations are ignored by budget provisos due to a presumed lack of revenue and lack of political will. These cuts means larger classes, fewer teachers, police and fire fighters, as well as deteriorating infrastructure, all of which combine to make our state less competitive.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/DSC076641.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/DSC076641-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"DSC07664\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3076\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/DSC076641-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/DSC076641.jpg 864w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<strong><em>SC Education Association Jackie Hicks addresses the shortfall in education funds that could be helped by Leventis&#8217; bill. See more photos from the press conference <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/progressivenetwork\/sets\/72157629957353145\/\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The TRAC recommendations on sales taxes would raise nearly $1 billion next year and more in coming years. This is close to what we need to meet these mandatory spending levels, and more comprehensive tax reforms would meet and exceed them for years to come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe critical debate I hope to spark,\u201d Leventis said, \u201cis whether the role of our government is shaped by the special-interest groups who make the majority of campaign contributions, or by the citizens who pay the taxes. I believe that citizens are willing to pay fair and equitable taxes when they get their money\u2019s worth. It\u2019s called democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In this year\u2019s House budget:<br \/>\n\u2022 The statutory funding level for the Education Finance Act was cut by $665 million, keeping our per-pupil funding at 1998 levels.<br \/>\n\u2022 The statutory funding for local governments\u2019 support of police, fire and public services was cut $71 million.<br \/>\n\u2022 The revenue from the extra penny of sales tax for Act 388 was $129.5 million short of what was needed for education funding through sales tax, rather than property tax, requiring another raid on the General Fund.<\/p>\n<p>The House budget shorted mandatory funding of these core public services by nearly $736 million. If you add the $129.5 million shifted from the General Fund, you come up with just about what the TRAC recommendations could recover through broad and fair sales tax reforms.<\/p>\n<p>The TRAC Recommendations Act (S 1454) would:<br \/>\n\u2022 Raise the $300 \u201cmax tax\u201d on cars, boats and planes and raise $61-$143 million annually as increased caps kick in.<br \/>\n\u2022 Tax food (not purchased with food stamps) at an effective rate of 2.41%, raising $251 million next year. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2011\/05\/13\/10-states-with-the-greatest-food-stamps_n_860233.html#s278470&#038;title=10_South_Carolina\">18.2% of the state&#8217;s population is receiving SNAP<\/a> benefits and will pay no tax on food.<br \/>\n\u2022 Tax non Medicaid\/Medicare medicine (with a $100 cap) and home utilities at an effective rate of 1.25%, raising $124 million next year. Those on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.statehealthfacts.org\/comparemaptable.jsp?cat=6&#038;ind=291\">Medicare<\/a> or Medicaid (44% of the state\u2019s children) will pay no tax on medicine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Phil Leventis has introduced the \u201cTRAC Recommendation Act\u201d (S 1454) that eliminates or reduces many sales tax exemptions, a move supported by the SC Progressive Network, which has been working to promote fair taxation and sustainable budgets. \u201cOur state\u2019s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2012\/05\/03\/were-all-better-off-when-were-all-better-off\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,9],"tags":[142,124,44,172,173],"class_list":["post-3069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-network-newsevents","category-sc-newscommentary","tag-brett-bursey","tag-sc-budget","tag-sc-progressive-network","tag-sen-phil-leventis","tag-tax-reform"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3069"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3079,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions\/3079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}